Frighteningly fast, she was in front of Phoenix, her fingernails digging into his neck, the dagger now in his stomach. She hissed and twisted the blade before ripping it out of him again.
Phoenix fell to his knees, looking up at her with heart-wrenching understanding. And maybe it was true. Maybe there was a part in all of us that could not be denied. But Phoenix had already proved his nature was not set in stone and frankly, right then, I didn’t give a damn.
He shook his head. ‘I didn’t need to kill you, Mother, just weaken you.’ He sank to the floor.
Realising her error, Lilith spun, blade in hand. She lashed out towards my side.
But I was already through her shields, and I was fast, too.
I forced both katanas, imbued with shavings from Grigori weapons, through her chest and released my power, pushing it all into her, letting go of my hold over the other exiles as I did. Something burned above my hip but I ignored it.
She stumbled, grabbing at the blades, but the sheer force of my power weakened her so she could barely move. She finally managed to wrench the swords free, a clanking sound echoing through the hall as they fell. Even so, the arrogance in her eyes remained. She still believed she would kill me.
‘For my mother,’ I said.
I pulled my Grigori dagger from behind my back. The blade was fast across my wrist, the cut deep. I didn’t care.
‘For your son,’ I said.
Lilith watched as I let my angelic blood, marbled with silver, cover the blade.
Her eyes widened. I half smiled.
‘Impossible,’ she whispered, managing to move a couple of steps back.
I simply moved with her. ‘For those children and the parents you stole them from.’
I took the final step and didn’t hesitate, thrusting the dagger, covered in my blood, straight into her heart.
‘For Lincoln.’
Lilith fell.
In that instant, before she could disappear, I felt the shift in reality. The air became thick and gravity’s hold seemed to falter. I closed my eyes and rode it out.
When I opened them again, Uri and Nox stood before me – the rest of the room still. Operating on autopilot I bent, lifted Lilith into my arms and walked towards them, willing us into this in-between place I still did not fully understand.
Uri nodded to me as I crossed the threshold and passed him Lilith, glancing at my bleeding wrist in the transfer. Even in this otherworldly place, the coldness came with me, eating away at me like defenceless prey.
Nox took in the scene curiously and turned to me. ‘Surprises to be had all round, it seems.’ He nodded with satisfaction. ‘All is as it should be. The tilt has now been corrected.’
‘What tilt?’ I asked.
Nox looked to Phoenix, who was barely breathing, then back to me. ‘It was never right that one as powerful as you should carry only the light. Now, you carry both light and dark. It is just.’
It took a moment for me to process his words in my sluggish mind. But eventually … Oh.
‘My angel maker is of the light,’ I said softly.
Nox snorted. ‘Did you think any self-respecting Angel Malign would embrace the image of the lion?’
More pieces of the puzzle fell into place and fury raged within me. I spat blood at Nox’s feet, looking down and only now registering the wound in my side. Lilith must have done it. I vaguely remembered feeling something when I stabbed her.
‘This was your plan all along, wasn’t it? All of it! You wanted this to happen so Phoenix would give me his essence, because what? The Angels Malign were jealous?’ I was screaming. It wasn’t like anyone else could hear; we had stalled time around us.
‘It is as it must be. I neither wanted nor denied it.’
‘Nox,’ Uri interrupted, ‘we must go.’
‘And why is that?’ Nox sneered, challenging Uri. He wanted to stay and gloat.
‘Because we have shown her the tool to destroy any of us in physical form whenever she should so choose and right now she is not herself. It would not be wise to remain.’
Nox looked at me properly for the first time. ‘True.’ He tilted his head. ‘Though I do like this look. Feral works for you.’
Uri cast his emotionless eyes over me. For once, I felt I matched his gaze with my own blankness.
‘Extraordinariness will always carry great sacrifice. It must. But you must surrender, still.’
I ignored him, issuing a threat. ‘Make sure she doesn’t find a way back this time.’
He gave a small nod, looking beyond me to the dozens of exiles that would soon attack. ‘I’ll leave you to finish things here.’
‘Of course you will,’ I spat.
Uri glanced over his shoulder to where Lincoln lay. As he and Nox began to fade he looked back to me, his eyes fiercer than ever. ‘Nothing is a certainty.’
And they were gone.
But I was still there in this twisted reality. I wondered if I could just stay there, ignore the rest of the world and simply fade away. But as soon as I formed the thought I felt the tug.
A whimper fell from my lips and I turned to see Phoenix lying on the ground, barely alive, arm outstretched.
‘Come back, Violet. Come back!’
He was calling me back to the world. He was my anchor.